Inspiration
Amish,Michael Kenneth
Happy Wednesday Green Teams!
Laurel and I along with Dustin Stephany from the PPD Energy Office had the privilege of attending ICBR’s monthly Green Team (now Green Coalition) meeting yesterday. For this week’s email, I wanted to somehow relate the inspiration I felt
while there.
Led by co-captains Connie Nicklin and Linda Green, the meeting was attended by about a dozen staff throughout ICBR and EPI. To be inclusive, they have recently decided to rename themselves a Green Coalition so that staff from other areas
nearby in EPI, Bio Stats, HPNP and HPP could also promote sustainability in their various workplaces and perhaps eventually like an epiphyte, drop roots and grow their own local green teams someday.
This month’s casual lunch meeting revealed their most recent efforts at rescuing discarded dishware from a local hotel to stock their own break room with. The process of this led to the recent acquisition of a break-room dishwasher, complimenting their recent
appliance consolidation of mini-fridges to one main, reclaimed freezer-fridge.
I was also impressed by the participation of their annual food-drive with EPI this year, grossing over 500lbs of canned and dry goods for the local food pantry, Bread of the Mighty and a potential service-oriented team-building event with
them to help stock and label donations. Linda also discussed plans for a spring “Sustainability Fair” at ICBR in an effort to bring awareness around what a Green Team can do, help others get involved, and share information with other campus Green Teams on
their successes and challenges yet to come.
They ended their meeting their usual way by giving one member their monthly turn at 5-minutes of sustainability to highlight something they have discovered or been inspired by in recently.
Our visit concluded by walking through their space identifying areas to target for their participation in a workspace energy audit they will be piloting with us in the spring, and feeling well, energized about it.
It made me realize how this work does not happen alone and how positive individuals and groups affecting change in their own lives and areas can spill over to touch other groups and individuals within reach.
My hope is that these weekly emails are useful and contribute to the support and engagement of your own Green Teams in ways that inspire new ideas and exemplify paths to sustainability on campus. So please use this listserv to connect with questions or suggestions, let others know what you are up to, and let us know if you have topics you’d like to know about in future emails!
Warm Regards,
-M
Michael Amish
Office Of Sustainability
PO Box 113111
University of Florida
